How to ID misprints from wear and tear damage 0

[TreyT]

Found this interesting shaped 1985 P quarter which looks to be damage. Curious how one can distinguish between regular wear and misprints. 

[Greenstang]

Welcome to the Forum

First of all, coins are not printed, they are minted or struck. Your right on your coin, it is just damage, value 25 cents.

If your referring to a " misprint" as an error, then you have to learn the minting process and what constitutes an error. An error can only occur during the striking of a coin so anything that happens after that is just damage. There are a limited number of things that can happen during the striking of a coin but there are countless things that can happen once the coin leaves the striking chamber. Things like dings, gouges, scratches,  distorted letters, wear, flattened letters, discolouration etc. are just some of the things that can most of the time be defined as damage. For help in what a genuine error is, study some of the websites available such as "error-ref.com"  to learn in distinguishing an error from damage. You are going to have to do your homework but after awhile it will come naturally and you will be able to see the differences for yourself.

[kbbpll]

I'll add that there are also countless things people deliberately do to coins, and countless things people's brains do to coins - imaginary dates, imaginary whales...

[Kirt]

Another point to consider: despite what "the Internet" says, most errors don't do much in terms of value, and error coins still follow the rules of condition. Grade is incredibly important.

If you want to focus on collecting errors, learn what they are as Greenstang suggests, and then really understand which ones add value to a coin. 

[JKK]

10 hours ago, TreyT said:

Found this interesting shaped 1985 P quarter which looks to be damage. Curious how one can distinguish between regular wear and misprints. 

 

Let's adjust that to distinguishing between damage and mint errors; and of mint errors, which are valuable and which are just detractors.

To progress on this, first you need to learn how hubs are created, dies are made, and coins are struck. The more you understand about that process, the more will become clear to you.